Gandhinagar, May 21 (IANS): A consortium led by the Gujarat State Petronet Limited (GSPL) will invest Rs.12,500 crore over the next three years to lay three cross-country gas pipelines.

The pipeline will be laid from Mallavaram in Andhra Pradesh to Bhilwara in Rajasthan (1,611 km), Mehsana in Gujarat to Bhatinda in Punjab (1,688 km) and Bhatinda to Jammu (512 km), said Tapan Ray, managing director of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) said here Friday.

The letter of authorisation was granted Wednesday by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB).

According to the GSPC chief, the pipelines will travel through Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, the National Capital Region, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir and benefit industries and city agglomerations lacking piped gas connectivity.

Ray said that the consortium comprising GSPL (52 percent), Indian Oil Corporation (26 percent), Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (11 percent each) will also be bidding for the proposed gas pipeline from Hazira near Surat to Paradip (Orissa) soon.